Dubai: The photo of a bride’s final touch up before her wedding in Gaza and another of a young boy playing with a chick in Egypt took top prizes at National Geographic Abu Dhabi’s Moments Award photography competition.
The seventh edition of the annual contest attracted some 19,000 entries from the Middle East and North Africa, capturing true moments of happiness and celebration. Two Palestinian photographers and two Egyptian photographers were announced winners in three different categories of the prestigious photography award — youth, adults and photo documentary.
The winner of the Single Image, who was honoured on Tuesday, was 21-year-old Mohammad Mahdi from Alexandria, Egypt, who captured a spontaneous moment as a little boy was playing with a chick as it stood on his shoulder.
“I was walking down an old city called El Borg in Egypt when I found this little boy playing under his house. When I spoke to him, he said he wanted me to meet his best friend. His best friend turned out to be a chick, which I didn’t expect at all. His brother then, while watching us from a window from above, passed the chick to the boy.”
The image shows the chick on the little boy’s shoulder, while the boy displays feelings of excitement. “The connection between the two of them was a great scene to capture,” said Mahdi, whose prize includes going on a photography expedition trip to Cuba with a photography team from National Geographic.
Mahdi said he enjoys capturing black and white images on the streets of Egypt. “You find a lot of contrast in the streets in Egypt and feelings which I like to capture through my lens.”
Another winner, who won in the youth category, which was added this year along with the photo documentary category, was also from Egypt. Barakat Khalid, 17, captured the image of a group of children celebrating their victory after a football game.
“I came across children playing football so I began taking several photos of them. I then went inside a residential building and tried taking the shot from above. It was that minute that the children were celebrating after scoring a goal,” he told Gulf News.
“I never expected I was going to win, but I’m thankful they gave young photographers like me a chance to participate in the competition,” said Khalid, who will receive $2,000 worth of photography equipment as a prize.
The other winners announced were Fatima Shabir from Gaza, who won in the Photo Documentary category for sharing a moment of a bride on Henna night and Mahmoud Abu Salama, who won in the People’s Choice Award for showcasing a moment when two refugees were playing with a rope.
To date, the contest, run in partnership with food company Almarai, has received 180,000 entries, said Sanjay Raina, general manager and senior vice-president of Fox Networks Group, which includes National Geographic Abu Dhabi.
“This year’s entries came from 18 Arabic speaking countries. The focus was on celebration this year because we wanted to celebrate life at a time when all these negative events have been happening around the globe. You can’t but smile after looking at these photos,” he said.
A total of 70 finalist photos including the winning images are now being showcased at the ‘Moments’ exhibition, which will be open for public viewing at d3 every day until October 13.
